Renegade M.D.: A Doctor's Stories from the Streets

by Susan Partovi M.D.

Overview

Empowering stories from the frontlines of compassion.

Dr. Susan Partovi first experienced poverty medicine volunteering at a dump site in Tijuana during high school. There, she recognized the need for all people to have access to quality medical care. Over the years, she has worked in various facilities around Los Angeles County, incorporating her renegade method of going the extra mile for her patients. As Medical Director of Homeless Health Care Los Angeles, she works to provide a safety net of care for the underserved skid row community and surrounding neighborhoods.

Recognized internationally as a leader in street medicine, Dr. Partovi started documenting her patients' stories so that others could hear their voices. By addressing the practical and moral considerations when treating each patient, Dr. Partovi developed her philosophies about what it means to be a "good doctor." Along the way, she began to understand how her personal ethics evolved—from a challenging childhood and complicated relationships with her parents, through professional hurdles—often, she had to push against a system that doesn't always put the patient first.

Renegade MD: A Doctor's Stories from the Streets is a powerful and inspiring memoir by Dr. Susan Partovi, a renowned street doctor who has dedicated her life to treating the impoverished around the world and people experiencing homelessness on LA's skid row. Through her stories, Dr. Partovi takes us on a journey to the heart of the challenges faced by those living on the streets, and shines a light on her unwavering commitment to advocate for social justice and to provide compassionate care to some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781667891613
Publisher:	BookBaby
Publication date:	01/30/2024
Pages:	232
Sales rank:	684,843
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Dr. Susan Partovi is the medical director of Homeless Health Care Los Angeles, an internationally recognized expert in the field of street medicine, and cofounder of H.E.A.L, a nonprofit that brings medical students and services to Haiti. She lives near the beach with her pups and when she's not there, she's out in nature with family and friends.

Editorial Reviews

"Renegade, pioneer, inspirational crusader. In her work and her writing, Dr. Susan Partovi is a voice for the sick and dying, driven by both compassion and moral outrage. She speaks for the voiceless and calls us to our better selves. Whether on the ground in LA's skid row or on the streets of Haiti, Partovi is present and unwavering in her mission of care and service." ~ Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times journalist, author of The Soloist
 

"Dr. Susan Partovi's wisdom, humor, and compassion are the special sauce that lifts her profession from medicine to ministering. Susan is a trailblazer, tending to the poor, homeless, and ill from skid row to Haiti. Saint Susan perhaps? Joining Florence Nightingale, Mother Teresa, and Clara Barton, Susan is "boots on the ground," bringing hope to the hopeless, and truth to the saying: "Blessed are those who heal the sick."
~ Marcia Gay Harden, Academy Award-winning actor

"Dr. Susan Partovi walks where others fear to tread. With her huge heart, turquoise jewelry, and matching eye shadow, she works with the most marginal, vulnerable people on skid row every week. I've watched her deal with patients who had very visceral physical and mental issues, but she approached them all with deep compassion and a lack of judgement – which allowed them to trust her and get the medical treatment they needed. She talks to each patient with grace and humor – and makes their experience, against all odds, fun. Her stories touch on the human condition in a very human way. Prepare to be amazed." ~ Catherine Hardwicke, director (Thirteen, Twilight, and "Elbows Deep" a short film about Dr. Susan Partovi — part of the anthology Tell it Like a Woman).

From the Publisher

2024-01-22
A doctor specializes in treating people experiencing homelessness in Partovi’s memoir.

The author, a physician and the medical director for Homeless Health Care Los Angeles, brings readers a narrative that begins as an immigrant success story and grows into a chronicle of treating people who live on the streets. Throughout the book, Partovi notably uses the term PEH (people experiencing homelessness) rather than referring to “the homeless,” emphasizing the humanity of the people she deals with as a doctor. When discussing the issues that both contribute to and are exacerbated by homelessness, the author emphasizes the roles of drug addiction and mental illness, detailing the ways that living unhoused complicates many medical conditions. Throughout this memoir, Partovi offers a sobering and disturbing (but also hopeful) look at the challenges of treating the unhoused, including many individual anecdotes about the people living on the streets—their struggles, tragedies, and, occasionally, their successes in dealing with homelessness and the medical problems that beset them. The author passionately argues against the current limitations on the involuntary commitment of people with mental illness; in her view, such limitations result in too many people with serious psychological issues ending up in jail or on the street instead of in treatment: “Would you let your five-year-old child decide if he or she needed to be hospitalized, or whether to take life-saving medication? The severely mentally ill or demented are often only capable of problem-solving at that developmental level.” The book offers a thoughtful exploration of why some people are noncompliant with medical treatment, but it noticeably excludes race as a factor in distrust of the medical system. Still, Partovi’s compassion for her patients shines through, even when she expresses frustration with them and with the systems that keep them from getting the help they need. The book provides an important perspective on treating an unusually vulnerable population in American society.

A riveting and sometimes radical look at the medical ramifications of homelessness.

Kirkus Reviews